Singapore, 18 November 2013… The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has taken civil penalty enforcement action against Ms Phua Lay Leng for insider trading under Section 218(2)(a) of the Securities & Futures Act (SFA).
2 Roxy-Pacific Holdings Limited (Roxy-Pacific), a company listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Ltd (SGX-ST), made an announcement on 5 April 2012 of its intention to undertake a bonus issue of up to 318,280,000 ordinary shares, on the basis of one bonus share for every two existing ordinary shares held by the shareholders of the company on the books closure date.
3 Prior to the announcement on 5 April 2012, Ms Phua, a senior administrative executive at Roxy-Pacific and being aware of the board resolution approving the bonus issue, purchased 30,000 shares in Roxy-Pacific while she was in possession of non-public and price-sensitive information concerning the bonus issue.
4 Ms Phua has admitted to contravening Section 218(2)(a) of the SFA and has paid MAS a civil penalty of $50,000, without any court action. Ms Phua cooperated fully with MAS in the course of the investigation.
5 The matter was referred to MAS by SGX-ST.
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Notes to Editor
(A) The civil penalty regime
(i) A civil penalty action is not a criminal action and does not attract criminal sanctions. The civil penalty regime, designed to complement criminal sanctions and provide a nuanced approach to combat market misconduct, became operational at the beginning of 2004.
(ii) Under section 232 of the SFA, MAS may enter into an agreement with any person for that person to pay, with or without admission of liability, a civil penalty for contravening any provision of Part XII of the SFA. The civil penalty may be up to three times the amount of the profit gained or loss avoided by that person as a result of the contravention, subject to a minimum of $50,000 (if the person is not a corporation) or $100,000 (if the person is a corporation). Where the contravention did not result in the person gaining a profit or avoiding a loss, the civil penalty may be up to $2 million, subject to a minimum of $50,000.
(B) Section 218(2)(a) of the SFA
Under section 218(2)(a) prohibits a person who is in possession of materially price-sensitive information concerning a corporation (to which he is connected), which he knows or ought to know is materially price-sensitive and not generally available, from subscribing for, purchasing, selling, or entering into an agreement to subscribe for, purchase or sell those securities of that corporation.